


Woman of Lestallum

by StarrBryte



Series: Woman of Lestallum [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XV: Comrades
Genre: Adele Steiner, Canon Disabled Character, Communication, Comrades really got the creative juices flowing, Deformity, Disabled Character, F/F, Found Family, Gen, Gladio Being An Ass, Healthy Relationships, I introduce to you my main, Mental Health Issues, Miscommunication, Post-Apocalypse, Prompt Fic, World of Ruin, character taking a warhammer to the face and surviving, finalfantasyxv-ocs-unite, if you have a weird fear of things involving the mouth and teeth beware, medicine in the post-apocalypse, scary!Ignis, seriously, some really graphic depictions of violence, spoilers for comrades and end of ffxv to be a given, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:58:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrBryte/pseuds/StarrBryte
Summary: When Insomnia fell Bahamut punished the surviving members of the Kingsglaive by taking the memory of that day from innocent and guilty alike. The only thing He left behind was the crushing feeling of guilt and failure. Glaive Adele Steiner was only spared that punishment because she can't remember anything. At all. Adele was left broken and betrayed with a smashed in face and the few comrades who still remember who she had been before. Adele doesn't remember a time before the dark. She doesn't need to. The King will come back. And she will ensure that he still has a kingdom even if she has to pummel every single deamon herself. (finalfantasyxv-ocs-unite.tumblr.com prompt fic series).





	1. Prologue: Blood and Tears: They Were Here First

**Author's Note:**

> finalfantasyxv-ocs-unite is one of the most open and friendly and supportive OC blogs I have ever seen. Shameless plug. I have been meaning to start posting these prompt-fics here for awhile but never really got down to it until this past Nanowrimo. So this is me trying to shake all these bits of writing into some kind of working order. I'll be posting pictures, my playlist, head-canon and world-building along with this story. I hope you all enjoy. 
> 
> Song for this chapter is 'Hide and Seek' by Imogen Heap

MAY 16th 756 M.E. THE DAY OF THE TREATY SIGNING BETWEEN INSOMNIA AND NIFLEHEIM.

As explosions rock the city and Kingsglaive Nyx Ulric squabbles with Oracle Lunafreya nox Fleuret over the controls of a crashing transport ship; two Kingsglaive enter a hidden passageway off of the subway system near the Citadel. 

The Glaives, one man and one woman, are tall and strong. 

The Glaives are carrying impossibly large warhammers with the ease of experience. 

The man looks around the hidden passageway as if he has never seen it before.

The woman walks with the ease of familiarity. She points. Ahead of them is an Ice Element Draw Point, growing out of the floor and wall. Her smile is fierce and easy as she clenches a fist, amping up for the battle ahead. 

The man pulls out his phone and looks at it. He holds it up and asks a question. She looks confused and waves her hand. His question doesn't matter. There are more important things than that. 

She turns back towards the Draw Point.

He puts his phone away.

Her back is turned to him. She trusts this man fully. He hefts his hammer easily.

The Draw Point glows. 

He says two words, soft, like a question.

The woman begins to turn to face him.

The man swings.

She falls. 

Her own warhammer falls from her grip to the floor where it vanishes into sparkles. 

The man walks past her without a second glance.

His steps are sure and his back is straight. 

The Draw Point is still glowing. 

A white dog trots unseen towards the Draw Point and the body draped across it. 

The white dog sniffs the hand dangling off the edge.

The fingers twitch.

The white dog barks once.

The white dog licks the fingers of that dangling hand.

The fingers twitch.

The white dog wags her tail and trots away.

Ice crystals begin to form on fingertips, then hand, crawling beautiful and eerie over exposed flesh and then cloth.

Tears form and trickle from unseeing eyes and freeze on the flesh of numb cheeks.

As Kingsglaive Libertus Ostium assists Oracle Lunafreya nox Fleuret's flight out of Insomnia, as Kingsglaive Nyx Ulric fights for the future and a throne that was never his, Kingsglaive Adele Steiner lays draped across the Ice Draw Point like a sacrifice to Shiva. The only sign that she still lives are the tears that trickle from her eyes, the blood that streams sluggishly from the crushed remains of the left side of her head, and the steam that bursts from her lips in ever slowing measures.

Bahamut will punish the Kingsglaive for the failure and dereliction of their duty by stealing the memory of that day from innocent and guilty alike, leaving behind nothing but the crushing weight of guilt and the knowledge of their failure.

Libertus Ostium will escape punishment by the Oracle's blessing and a temporary King's fond regard. 

Adele Steiner will escape punishment by having no memory left to steal.


	2. Splayed On Shiva's Alter (She Always Did Have A Thing For Red-Heads)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ID #0015-11262016 MHG  
> Lestallum,Cleigne  
> Steiner,Adele  
> A+  
> 7/27/727  
> O.D.-B.D.  
> TITAN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter song: Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap Slowed Down 800%
> 
> Posting is going to slow to a crawl based on time and inspiration. Preparing for the Tumblr Purge is taking longer than I hoped.

MAY 20th 756 M.E. FOUR DAYS AFTER THE FALL OF INSOMNIA

Thump...

Cold...

THUMP...

Where...?

Thump...

_“Hey, Adele..?”_

THUMP...

The chill seemed to reach down into her very core. Solidifying skin and preserving meat and organ and bone all the way down to her heart. Slowing it to a near stop.

Thump...

The space between what should have been a healthy beat seemed to take hours.

THUMP...

The space between beats was a small eternity.

Thump...

Even the spaces between breaths felt like years to the point where she forgot what breath was, until desperation would fire in her brain and air would stream into her freezing lungs.

THUMP...

Between each heartbeat, between each breath, thoughts would try and form.

Thump...

The King... Have to get to the King... 

THUMP...

The Empire... Please, no... 

Thump...

_“Hey, Adele...?”_

THUMP...

So cold...

Thump...

Between each heartbeat, between each breath, thought and memory would form.

THUMP...

_“Rule #1”_ An achingly familiar voice echoed between one heart beat and the next, _“Keep moving. Do something. As long as you keep moving you are still alive.”_

Thump...

_“You finally decided? Good. You're skills are wasted with the Hunters and finding suits in your size for the Plant was getting expensive anyway...”_

THUMP...

_“Your great-grandmother was one of the fiercest and most terrifying people I have ever known.”_ The voice attached to the words burned like fire in her stiffened bones, burned like acid and guilt and failure in her heart, _“Insomnia welcomes back the descendent of the Blood Briar of Lucis... And I welcome you into my Glaive... Serve with honor and you will do your bloodline proud no matter what.”_

Thump...

Failure was like magma seeping through the cracks in Titan's skin, painful and blistering before the cold froze it. Forever changing the landscape of her soul even as the memory seemed to sink through the cracks and away from thought.

THUMP...

_“Hey, Adele...?”_

Thump...

Between each heartbeat, between each breath, thought and memory would be lost.

THUMP...

No matter how hard she tried to keep them.

Thump...

There was something wrong with her head. Her face. She was able to blink, if she concentrated. Tears had formed and flowed and frozen on her numb cheeks. She could see, but her vision felt off. Crooked, as if her eyes were seeing two different things. As if her eyes were set in two different places on her face. 

THUMP...

Right eye. Dust covered concrete and something red pooled on it. It would be pitch black if not for a subtle, ambient glow.

Thump...

Left eye. Out of focus but maybe the faint outline of a dark ceiling. More ambient glow and something crystalline sparkling just in her peripheral.

THUMP...

There was something wrong with her head. Her face. She was able to hear, hadn't been able to stop. However her left ear felt numb, deaf, sound more muffled than the right, which had frozen against the cold she lay on. 

Thump...

For a time there had been loud noises. Dust had fallen from the ceiling. Everything had been shaking. There had been screams and explosions. Now there was silence.

THUMP...

There had been silence for a very long time.

Thump...

Sometimes there were sounds that seemed to come from inside her head. Voices. Memories? 

THUMP...

She couldn't tell anymore.

Thump...

Between one heartbeat and the next whatever memory she would be replaying would be lost.

THUMP... 

_“Your size and strength would make it prudent for you to train with Greatswords... Maybe even shields... It's unprecedented but I think it best if you trained with Lord Amicitia's son, Gladiolus...”_

Thump...

_“I don't mind it so much when you follow me around Adele. You draw more attention than I ever could!Soooo... Iggy's got lessons and I finished my homework... Could you take me to the arcade..? We could take that new secret passage you found!”_

THUMP...

_“Gladdy and Noctis took me to the street fair! I'm sorry you had to miss out on it 'Dele... But look! I won you this! It's a moogle pendent! I thought you could wear it... You know... For luck!”_

Thump...

No matter how hard she tried to hold on, the faces and people attached to those voices would be lost.

THUMP...

No matter how hard she tried. Another failure. Tears formed and froze. Formed and froze.

Thump...

Muffled sounds. Voices. Not part of the words and voices that sloshed through her head in waves. Grating noises, like debris being moved.

THUMP...

“...Finally get the chance... Evacuated during the first part of the... Maybe something... Use the bunks at least...”

Thump...

“You'd think something that could rip a door this sturdy right off it's hinges would have cleaned the place out...”

“Anything we can use?”

“Basic cleaning crap, med kit... What in Ifrit's name is that?”

“... Looks like the wall gives way here...”

THUMP...

For an eternity she had been here it seemed, while time passed. Awake or asleep it didn't matter. These new voices pulled at her and the cold burned and numbed.

Thump...

There was a creak, a sharp shout and a crash. Someone cursing. The sounds got louder. Echoed slightly. Resonated. 

THUMP...

Somewhere in her mind there was an echo of the sound of dog's nails on concrete.

Thump...

_“Hey, Adele..?”_

THUMP...

“What the hell is this?!”

“Shit... Hidden passage... This one must lead right to the Citadel... Damn...”

Thump...

A choked noise, like someone gagging.

“That... Has to be one of the more gruesome sights I've seen all day...”

“Ugh... At least she hasn't started to stink yet...”

“She wouldn't... See that? Ice Draw Point. Fell right across it. Well preserved and well frozen.”

“Probably trying to magic up. Kingsglaive... We'll have to report this...”

THUMP...

“Looks like someone smashed her head in with a warhammer or something. I'm surprised none of her brains have leaked out her ears.”

“Could we please not talk about that? Look, see if you can get some ID and cover her up... Eugh, feels like she's staring at me...”

Thump...

Desperation sparks in the brain and steam escapes in a long exhale, whistles through her lips as air is drawn back in. The voices stop. At least for a moment.

“What the fuck?! What the fuck man! What the fuck was that?!”

Fingers that burn against the cold of her skin. Pressing to wrist then to throat. Listening. Waiting. Warmth spreading from that spot.

THUMP...

“Well blow a Mog... Fuck the undertaker I need you to call the medic. Should be a van nearby. Tell them this is a doozy and we're going to need an Elixer and maybe a Phoenix Down before we can even begin to transport this mess out of here...”

“Fuck man... This is nightmare fuel no doubt... Fuuuuuck....”

Thump... THUMP...

“Once we get her out of here I'll contact the Captain... Maybe the Marshal... We'll see if she can tell us anything...”

“You think there's anything left of her to tell? Ten Crowns says she's a vegetable.”

“Turn those useless bits of paper into Gil and you're on.”

Thump... THUMP...

A bright light in her eye. It burns. She blinks.

“Glaive? Can you hear me? Kingsglaive, my name is Officer Sen Col. I'm a member of the City Guard. Can you give me any kind of sign that you understand my words?”

Thump... THUMP...

Through an eternity of strain, like glaciers moving through a mountainside, a finger twitches.

Thump. THUMP.

Words are like a waterfall of sound, keeping her in the moment. Even if those moments seem to blur and blend. A scalding hot hand is holding hers. Her fingers bend around it. Tears leak from her eyes and he dabs them away before they can freeze. The kindness is more than she can bear. 

Thump. THUMP.

She is thawing. Warming from the outside inwards. Like a spring thaw, what she was losing in a trickle becomes a flood.

Thump-THUMP.

By the time more voices enter the space the words are nothing but meaningless noise.

Thump-THUMP.

By the time the wet-dry glow of a potion drenches her, she can no longer understand the things that are happening. Where she is. Why she is. Hands are touching her and she can't figure out why. She doesn't understand.

Thump-THUMP.

By the time they fill her veins with drugs and begin the arduous task of peeling her from her resting place she can't understand anything at all.

Thump-THUMP. Thump-THUMP. Thump-THUMP.

_“Hey, Adele..?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments and critiques help me improve!


	3. It's A Matter Of Perspective Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Name: Jane Doe  
> Height: 7'2  
> Weight: 290  
> BT: A+  
> Hair: Pink  
> Eyes: N/A  
> Notes: Found with MHG tags but cannot confirm ownership. Wearing a low-rank Kingsglaive dress uniform. Will receive notification from Capt. Ostium within next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not a doctor and my grasp on medical practices are from books and television. Luckily I have an unreliable narrator and a medical staff severely out of their league and doing their best during trying times like the fall of an entire kingdom. CW: playing fast and loose with someone having a seizure that also has a severe head wound while inside a moving vehicle.
> 
> Sorry for the short chapter but I figure ending once Steiner passes out would be a good stopping point. Chapters will get longer soon.
> 
> Song: Krigsgaldr by Heilung

After so long in that place, frozen and awake, the fire in her veins is soothing.

There is a thought there that she doesn't quite understand. She doesn't really need to. It's a comforting thought. An old thought. An old story. Her veins are filled with fire and the thought that rolls through to be lost again is this: 

One upon a time the Astrals Ifrit and Titan were brothers. Lava flowed through their veins and smoke roiled through their breath. Titan was the magma deep in the roots of Eos. Eternal and everlasting. Growing continents and mountains from the seas where his beloved Leviathan danced and created her artwork of life. Ifrit was the volcano and the wildfire, fitful and wild that came as fast as it vanished and destroyed so that creation could thrive. 

She burned from the heat of the blankets covering her body. She was boiling from the I.V.s of fluids being dripped into her. There was an image behind her eyelids of those two fiery beings; Titan with his cracked skin and Ifrit with his flaming hair, both an acknowledgment that life is pain and suffering and there is a sort of beauty in it.

She tried to open her eyes once and instantly had to close them. After the dim and dark the white surrounding her is far too much. Even keeping her eyes closed doesn't protect from so much brightness.

After the hours of screaming and the days of silence the voices around her are like music she just can't quite understand.

“-looks like someone took a whiteboard doodle of a human and then smeared their hand across it, everything is on sideways...”

“-never seen anything like it.”

“I have, but they were dead as a doornail almost instantly...”

“...blessing? I wouldn't call this a blessing... If she survives the trip it'll be an astrals-damned miracle...”

So peaceful. There is a feeling of an earthquake in her chest. Like wracking shivers that happen during a fever but deeper. Her head feels light. She feels light. She feels like she could sleep right there. It would be so peaceful if it weren't for the yelling rising up around her.

“She's seizing! Someone get me the-”

“Roll her onto her side so she doesn't choke-”

“Shiva she's heavy!”

“One, two, THREE!”

“I'm not getting a pulse!”

“You wouldn't, cold as she is, get me a 'scope!”

“Can't get her jaws open!”

Pain. Pain in her head. In her head in her ears in her eyes in her face her mouth her tongue all the way down to her neck. Something was trying to rip her jaw from it's hinges. She fought, joints and muscle creaking from the cold as scalding hands press her down.

“She's going to kill herself at this rate!”

“Get me at least five more doses of-”

“Fuck it! Break it if you have to we'll fix it once we get to surgery!”

Fingers in her mouth, plunging deep and hooking behind her bottom teeth. There's a pop as her jaws slam shut around the heavy leather glove. There's a yelp from someone above her and then a growled oath. A grunt, a pull, a crack. Her mouth falls open and the hand pulls itself out. A high pitched tone begins that goes on and on and on until desperation fires in her brain and she sucks in air and the tone begins again. Something hard is being shoved down her throat, muffling the sound. She can't close her mouth.

“Her sinuses are a mess I can't find anyway to get this in there!”

“Her entire nasal cavity is crushed, forget it.”

“She's going to blow her voice screaming like that.”

“We can't do anything but keep her screaming until we get there. Screaming means she's still breathing.”

“Blankets are warm enough let's wrap her up for now.”

Burning fire like her skin is melting. Steaming hot agony that thaws whatever numbness had spared her, bringing older pain into a jangling chorus until darkness clouds her mind and all goes blessedly quiet.

_“Hey, Adele..?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments and critiques help me improve!


	4. I Call Dibs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patient #2015019  
> Status: Surgery In-Progress  
> List of Injuries: Multiple skull fractures, dislocated jaw, crushed left mandible, broken nose, crushed back molars, crushed nasal cavity, crushed ear canal, crushed eye-socket, blood loss, hypothermia, minor scrapes, cuts and bruises.
> 
> Notes: Three seizures en-route to Crown Medical, a fourth once inside building. Quadrupled dose of pretty much everything with little effect. If it weren't for the uniform I don't think we'd put in the effort. Once servers back online request personnel file Kingsglaive. First glance looks like a cross between a smeared portrait and a jigsaw puzzle. 
> 
> I know we're not really getting paid anymore but I demand a raise. Or at least a really good bottle of whatever you have hiding in your desk. Some of the younger ones are gonna have to talk to someone about Nightmare Fuel.
> 
> RN S. Jirak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I attempted to post this in may but the html coding was messing with me or something. Then I ran out of time and then I got busy and sick and all the other reasons that fanauthors give for not posting in forever. Hurts my heart I can't find more time to work on this since I feel so strongly about it. I'm still shamelessly plugging tumblr.ffxv-ocs-unite.com for all the great artwork and stories on there~
> 
> Chapter song: All The Kings Horses by Karmina
> 
> Which kind of really fits, literally. "All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put me back together again."

Every time she blinks something would be different. The sights and sounds changing drastically between closing and opening her eyes.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Whatever surface she lay on was bouncing erratically, sending ripples of sensation through her head. Things were moving in her head. Things were moving in her head that really felt like they shouldn't be moving. Like the pieces of a frozen puddle smashed by a boot, liquid seeping up and shards floating out, disconnecting from each other.

“For Astral's sake keep her steady!”

“-Barely on the cart as is-”

“Get her prepped we're doing this now-”

“Leviathan what a mess-”

“-X-ray is ready-”

“I think she's awake!”

Bright light in one eye, then the other.

“Uneven pupil response, no surprise-”

A finger taps her between the eyes. She blinks.

“Responsive... Did we ever get an ID..?”

Something tugging at her neck. She tries to flail. She can't move her arms.

“Hunter's Tags. Think they're hers?”

“Go with it. Hope that there's enough left of her to tell us.”

“Adele Steiner? Glaive Steiner can you hear me? Can you understand my words?”

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Yelling again. Something sharp in her hands, in her head.

“She's coming out from under again! Get me another dose-”

“-taking enough to kill a behemoth-”

“-as many times as it takes so long as I'm allowed to work!”

“-like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, Astral's what a mess-”

“Adele? Adele, can you hear me? I'm going to need you to hold still, okay? Adele? Can you understand me? You mustn't move, alright? Everything will be fine as long as you hold still-”

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Bright light.

A sense of peace.

Yelling.

“-seizing again! Get me the-”

“-blood pressure-”

“-transfusion-”

Desperation sparks in her brain but this time nothing happens.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Desperation sparks in her brain but this time nothing happens.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Desperation sparks in her brain but this time nothing happens.

“-not breathing, dammit!”

“Can't move her-”

“-skull casing busted wide open here-”

“-exposed-”

“-risk of clotting-”

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

Desperation sparks in her brain.

“-hold her still! Prepare for tracheo-”

Something sharp at her throat, in her throat. Air floods in.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Light.

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

 

 

“ _Hey, Adele..?_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> I grew up during a fanfiction age when writing an OC was considered a bad thing. Mary Sues were rampant and the writing for them was utter crap. My guilty pleasure was writing OCs who were background characters. Interesting, but unimportant in the grand scheme of the story. They had their lives and wanted to protect their little bit of happiness and that's what I liked. Now I'm seeing an absolute boom in OCs and all of them are interesting and special and important. I don't feel bad about writing my OCs anymore and writing this is an absolute joy to me. Especially since this one I can actually play in-game. Comrades is special like that. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the journey of Glaive Adele Steiner in the World of Ruin as she deals with her own mental and physical problems as well as Deamon attacks, food shortages, the weather, friends, chocobos, diction, math, politics, cup noodles, Astrals, dead kings and crushing hard on cute girls.


End file.
